Time and Calendars: At the Crossroads of Astronomy and Culture

I begin with a brief look at the nature of Western timekeeping and how it came to reckon and represent time’s duration with special technological devices. The next section, on time and the Other, deals respectively with literate and non-literate world cultures, beginning with lunar timekeeping prevalent among Ice Age tribal culture of the Dordogne, and following with the Siberian Ostiak, the North American Natchez and the Nuer of Sudan. Literate state-level cultures discussed include the Aztec of Central Mexico and the ancient and contemporary Maya of Yucatan. The concluding discussion pays considerable attention to the environmental setting affecting each of the selected cultures/civilizations.